Research

Three Blind Mice

Our experiment tested which type of rodent (hamster, mouse, gerbil) learns best and under which conditions a rodent learns best (standard - nothing, laser light, treat). To test the rodents' learning abilities, we placed each one in a maze and timed how long it took each of them to reach the end. We used nine different rodents (one for each combination). We ran each rodent through the maze ten times. We hypothesized that the mouse with the laser light would learn the best. We used the times to calculate the differences between each rodent's runs through the maze. Then we averaged the differences. Next we used the chi-square method of statistical analysis to determine if our results were due to random chance. The chi-square test proved that our results were not due to random chance. Therefore, the rodents learned something. Overall, the mice learned best and the rodents with the standard learned best. Half of our hypothesis was proven correct.